Saturday, September 29, 2012

It's
the weekend so forgive us this modest sidetrack but this 'Onion-esque'
story was just too good to ignore.The company at the center of the
Olympics' security debacle, G4S (whose directors resigned just yesterday over the "humiliating shambles") has gone one better. As Reuters reports, Megan
Rice - an 82-year-old nun - cut perimeter fences and reached the outer
wall where enriched uranium was stored at the US Government's nuclear
storage 'Fort Knox' in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Can you guess
who was responsible for the 'outsourced' security that enabled this
SNAFU? G4S' subsidiary Babcock & Wilcox Co. (B&W). Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said the incident was an important "wake-up call" for the entire nuclear complex.
An investigation last month found a security camera had been broken for
about six months and was part of a backlog of repairs needed for
security at the facility. Several top-ranking NNSA officials have been
'reassigned' (Gulag?) but have no fear as B&W have stated that the active union workers involved will all be employed elsewhere.
One more example of the ineptitude of government oversight, the
unintended consequence of crony capitalism, or simply another
'fool-me-once...'/unpunished debacle?

More at: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-09-29/us-nuclear-fort-knox-cracked-82-year-old-nun

Submitted by John Aziz of AzizonomicsIran’s Imminent Nuclear WeaponHere’s some context behind the claims that Iran will imminently possess a nuclear weapon.
It started a long time ago (but not, unfortunately, in a galaxy far, far away):

1984: Soon after West German engineers visit the unfinished Bushehr nuclear reactor, Jane’s
Defence Weekly quotes West German intelligence sources saying that
Iran’s production of a bomb “is entering its final stages.”US Senator Alan Cranston claims Iran is seven years away from making a weapon.

Seven years away? And did they have a bomb in 1991?

1992: Israeli parliamentarian Binyamin Netanyahu
tells his colleagues that Iran is 3 to 5 years from being able to
produce a nuclear weapon – and that the threat had to be “uprooted by an international front headed by the US.”

1992: Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres tells French TV that Iran was set to have nuclear warheads by 1999.
“Iran is the greatest threat and greatest problem in the Middle East,”
Peres warned, “because it seeks the nuclear option while holding a
highly dangerous stance of extreme religious militancy.”

1992: Joseph Alpher, a former official of Israel’s Mossad spy agency,
says “Iran has to be identified as Enemy No. 1.” Iran’s nascent
nuclear program, he told The New York Times, “really gives Israel the
jitters.”

In case of atomic bomb, beer still OK

By pbowersox on Sep 29, 2012 01:00 am

Science historian Alex Wellerstein recently wrote of a series of nuclear
weapons tests conducted in 1955 at the Nevada Test Site, known as
Operation Teapot. Among the important civil defense questions explored
at the time was: What will the survivors drink after a … Continue reading →Read in browser »

NUCLEAR ENERGY:

DOE funding for small reactors languishes as parties clash on debt

Greenwire
reports that the Department of Energy has blown its deadline to award
$452M to one or two SMR firms over five years. The first award of
approximately $60M had to be announced by the end of the fiscal year
which is Sunday 9/30. Friday was the last working day of the fiscal
year. According to Greenwire, DOE did not make a decision due to
election year indecision by the Obama White House.

Friday, September 28, 2012

The
head of Japan's new nuclear regulatory body has said that the agency
will not force the Ohi reactors to shut down, and that the so-called
stress tests will no longer be required to restart other plants in the
future.

Nuke outages averaging above last year since June. * Outages seen
dropping below last year next month. * Four reactors down for long-term
work. By Scott DiSavino. Sept 28 (Reuters) - U.S. nuclear power outages
over the last few months have been ...

The National Nuclear Security Administration (U.S. Department of
Energy) recently hosted a public meeting in Chattanooga, Tenn.,
concerning its Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the
disposition of surplus weapons-grade plutonium as mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel
for use in power reactors.

Laura Scheele reports on how American Nuclear Society members fulfilled
the mission set forth in the ANS Position Statement on MOX fuel: to
inform the public and media about the nonproliferation benefits of the
MOX fuel program.

It’s also the story of how ANS Student Members answered a Call to
Action and contributed, in large numbers, to the success of this event
for the Society in an arena where nuclear opponents had monopolized the
public discussion about nuclear energy.

Art Wharton considers the most recent American Nuclear Society Position
Statement, which advocates global expansion of nuclear energy through
increasing exports of U.S. nuclear goods and services.

It’s logical that ANS would want U.S. nuclear technology to increase
in the global market, but the position statement does not come from a
market-driven angle - it is noted as a non-proliferation measure.

Nonproliferation advantages, as well as promoting the influence of the
United States in regard to the safety and security of global nuclear
development, are among Mr. Wharton's key considerations…

Geoscience professor appointed to federal nuclear waste boardBy News & Notes TeamUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison hydrogeologist Jean Bahr has been appointed by President Obama to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. The board is charged with providing independent scientific and technical oversight of the ...Letters & Science News & Notes

Obama blocks Chinese wind farm
The US president has blocked an attempt by a Chinese-owned company to
build wind farms in Oregon close to a navy site used for testing drones
and electronic warfare training.

Washington DC (SPX) Sep 27, 2012
Huge demands on increasingly scarce water are a major hidden cost of a
"business as usual" approach to American electricity generation that
needs to be more fully understood by policymakers and the public,
according to a new Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. report prepared for
the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute (CSI) and the
Environmental Working Group (EWG). http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/US_Electricity_Generation_Wastes_Huge_Amounts_Of_Water_999.html

Jerry Brown OKs bills to expand renewable energy in CaliforniaLos Angeles TimesJerry Brown signed 19 bills Thursday aimed at making it easier to provide renewable energy and conserve power in California. The bills include a measure by Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) that directs the state to coordinate implementation of ...http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/09/jerry-brown-signs-renewable-energy-bills.html

comments: 0. California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. has signed a bill
designed to strengthen the clean energy partnership between California
and the U.S. military. The legislation, the Energy Security Coordination
Act of 2012, was authored by State Sen.

Here is a summary of the topics in today's Fukushima Updates. Click on th link for the full reports...

The
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) is planning on “punching” a hole
through the Fukushima Daiichi unit #1 containment (PCV) wall for
inspection purposes... A Japanese power company is ready to resume
construction at a partially-completed nuke in Ohma town... Industry
Minister Yukio Edano is having a book published today arguing that all
of Japan’s nukes should be run by the government... Japan continues to
run into local opposition roadblocks with finding sites for the disposal
of sewage sludge and incinerator ash contaminated with radioactive
Cesium.

Asian
demand for natural gas has risen sharply in recent years. Prices in
dollars per million BTUs, are about $13.50 in Argentina and $13.80 in
Japan and South Korea, and $13.40 in China. Even Argentina has a $13.50
price, but U.S. wholesale prices are about $2.50 to $3.00.The world
price disparity raises a question that swirls just under the surface of
the national energy conversation, which whipsaws between relieved
happiness that shale gas exists at all and unfounded fears stoked by
extremists that the method of extracting it called…Read more...http://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/What-Does-the-Future-Hold-for-Natural-Gas-Prices.html

Nuclear Matinee: The Higgs, or not the Higgs? Spin will tell

By pbowersox on Sep 28, 2012 01:00 am

The Higgs boson caused quite a stir earlier this year when its discovery
was announced on July 4. After all, the Higgs field, as proven by the
existence of the Higgs boson, is basically the reason that matter has
“mass” in our … Continue reading →Read in browser »